Retirement is a major step in a person’s life journey. While Social Security provides some protections for elderly people, it is important for people to save for retirement throughout their lives. Fortunately, there are a number of helpful online calculators that help you plan for your retirement well ahead of time.
CNN Money
CNN Money has a very valuable retirement calculator available online. It has five important sections: Goals, Income, Savings, Portfolio, and Results. In the goals section you take into account a number of factors: your current age, desired retirement age, income, and desired annual income on retirement. This goals section helps you get a sense of the savings you need over time.
Another beneficial aspect of this calendar is that it takes into account the savings of both you and your spouse. While many retirement calculators focus on the savings of just one person, many retirees do not retire alone. Therefore, this can give a more accurate sense of just how much money and investments you will have upon retiring.
Bloomberg
Bloomberg also offers a solid retirement calculator, complemented by some helpful graphs. While this calculator is rather simplistic, it allows you to predict from your current age and savings what retirement savings you may accrue at a given age. The calculator also breaks down how much money will accrue each year, so you get a sense of the gradual increase in your money over time, rather than a simple end calculation of how much savings you will have at the point of retirement.
Smart Money
Smart Money has a unique retirement calculator, which takes into account your total assets, your future income, your expected retirement spending, and a number of additional features. It also tracks the process by which you will accrue and deplete your money over time on a useful graph. Appropriately, your money will reach its peak right as you retire, and will subsequently decrease as you spend it upon retirement. This calculator is a great way to project your future spending, and it helps assure that you do not run out of money at an old age!
There are just three of the most useful free retirement calculators available online. Remember that the amount of money necessary for retirement varies person to person, and depends on a variety of factors including location of retirement, spending habits, and health issues. It is important to estimate in a conservative way to ensure that you have plenty of money to live a comfortable life as you age gracefully.